TheTechno Optimist.

TON Foundation—TON activates Catchain 2.0: block time cut to 400ms, throughput increases tenfoldTON Foundation—Telegram rolls out Money wallet to 1B+ users, zero-fee GRAM transfersTON Foundation—Telegram founder Pavel Durov announces Telegram as TON's primary validator; replaces TON Foundation

TON Foundation

TON blockchain, Telegram integration

CHprivateest. 2023ton.org (opens ton.org)Checked 10 Oct

The brief

Analyst view
  • 400ms blocks, 100K+ TPS capacity: ~420 validators, 184M smart contracts, 4.1M daily transactions as of October 2026.
  • Processing millions of monthly active wallets with near-zero fees.
  • May 2026: Telegram assumed primary validator role. October 2026: Money wallet rolled out to 1B+ Telegram users.

Technical approach

As reported
Architecture

Layer 1 blockchain design

TON is built from first principles as a Layer 1, not a Layer 2 scaling on another chain, giving it native control over consensus and fees.

Finality

Sub-second blocks

April 2026's Catchain 2.0 upgrade reduced block times to 400 milliseconds, enabling near-instant settlement critical for consumer applications.

Integration

Native Telegram wallet

TON integrates with Telegram's built-in Money wallet, letting Telegram's 1B+ users transact without leaving the app or managing separate keys.

Primer